Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Plato's dialogues prove the philosopher was acquainted with Antiphons works, and by describing the democracy in the 8thbook of the Republic, he sometimes takes Antiphons ideas to the extreme. The sophist regards the society as a conglomeration of individuals. Plato likewise regards the democracy, and to illustrate this idea, he compares the democratic system with a many-colored coat the people wears at the feasts; for him, this coat shows the inconsistency of the democratic government and life. Antiphon advocates an individualism that feels ill at ease with a community system and its laws, while for the philosopher the democrat runs counter to this system and scorns the laws. In the opinion of the sophist each individual lives only in the present moment, while Plato depicts the democrat as an "ephemeral" being (in the ancient sense of the word). Antiphon asserts the neutrality of the Nature, while for Plato, in the 8thbook of the Republic human nature is full of disturbing appearances. In the eyes of the sophist artificial rhetoric violates the Nature, while the philosopher denounces the ascendency of a sophistic artificial eloquence in the democrats, because that furthers their bad instincts. |
